The Canon PowerShot S120 ($449.99 direct) represents the yearly update to the company's high-end S series, taking the place of the S110. The camera offers several improvements over the previous iteration, including faster performance and 1080p60 video capture. The aesthetics are unchanged and it still uses a 12-megapixel, 1/1.7-inch CMOS image sensor, but the quicker shooting is noteworthy. Its image quality still can't match the Editors' Choice Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II, which packs a larger sensor into a similar body and adds a tilting rear LCD and support for an add-on EVF, but the Canon is a more affordable model.

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Design and Features The S120 is truly pocketable, measuring just 2.3 by 3.9 by 1.1 inches and weighing in at 7.7 ounces. It's only available in black, a departure from previous models with silver versions as options. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100, another Editors' Choice winner with a 1-inch sensor, is very similar in size and design; it measures 2.4 by 4 by 1.4 inches and weighs 8.5 ounces. Like the original RX100, the S120 lacks a hot shoe, uses a fixed rear display, and features a control ring around its lens to adjust settings during shooting.

The lens features a 5x zoom ratio, which sounds low compared to superzoom models with smaller image sensors but is fairly standard for cameras in this class. It's a 24-120mm f/1.8-5.7 (35mm equivalent) design that offers a fairly wide angle and a medium telephoto range. The Nikon Coolpix P330 covers a similar range, and like the S120 its maximum f/1.8 aperture narrows as you zoom. You'll want to stick to wider angles when shooting in dim light; to get a compact camera with a wide-aperture lens throughout its zoom range you'll want need to look at a slightly larger model like the Olympus XZ-2, which packs a 28-112mm f/1.8-2.5 zoom.

There are just a few controls on the S120's body, but adjusting oft-used shooting settings is pretty straightforward. Up top are the standard power button, zoom rocker, shutter release, and mode dial. On the rear you'll find a control wheel that doubles as a four-way controller: Directional presses activate macro shooting mode, adjust exposure compensation and flash output, and toggle the amount of information shown on the rear display. There's also a movie button, and the standard playback and menu controls.

At the center of the control dial is the Function/Set button. Pressing this activates an on-screen overlay menu that provides access to the shooting settings: ISO, the metering pattern, white balance, the drive mode and self-timer, file format, and the internal neutral density filter. One other control on the rear, the Ring Function button, adjusts the behavior of the front control ring that surrounds the lens. By default it adjusts aperture or shutter speed depending on the selected mode, but it can also be configured to change the ISO, adjust the zoom or focus of the lens, apply exposure compensation, adjust white balance, or perform more esoteric adjustments. There's a wealth of customizability there, much like the similar ring found on the Sony RX100 and RX100 II.

The rear LCD is three inches in size and packs a 922k-dot resolution. That's double the resolution of the rear LCD that Fujifilm put in its stylish XF1. It's extremely sharp, so you can confirm that you've nailed a shot right after you've captured it. It's also touch-sensitive, which allows you to tap the area of the frame that you'd like to focus on. You can use the touch navigation to swipe through images in playback mode.

A few years ago Wi-Fi was a rare feature on digital cameras, but today it's almost expected. The S120 uses the same Wi-Fi implementation that Canon puts in its other point-and-shoot cameras, with a notable refinement. Gone is the requirement to plug the S120 into a PC in order to setup web services via the Canon Image Gateway service. You'll still need to set up an Image Gateway account via a browser, but now you can pair the camera with that account over Wi-Fi. Once it's set up you can post images and videos to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Flickr when you're connected to a hotspot. The Samsung EX2F lets you do the same, but it lets you configure your accounts directly from the camera itself.

You can also transfer images directly from the camera to your iOS or Android device via the free Canon CameraWindow application. It's easy to setup: If you're out and about you'll be prompted to enter a password in your phone or tablet to connect to an access point that the S120 broadcasts. If you're at home and both your device and the S120 are connected to the same network, they'll find each other automatically. Other Wi-Fi functions are available that allow you to transfer images to your computer, print to a Canon Wi-Fi printer, or beam them wirelessly to another Canon camera.

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Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007. He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format...
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